Hamlet

By William Shakespeare

Company name: Abrahamse and Meyer Productions

Company country: South Africa

Director: Fred Abrahamse

Distribution:

Matthew Baldwin – Hamlet/Francisco

Marcel Meyer – Claudius/Phantom/First Actor

Long Lallie – Gertrude

Taylin Ramsamy – Horatio/Polonius

Nathi Mazwai – Laertes/Rosencrantz/Marcellus/ Actor

Thinus Viljoen – Ophelia/Guildenstern/Barnardo/Gropar/Osric

The creative team:

Scenography and costumes: Marcel Meyer

Lighting Design: Faheem Bardien

Composer: Charl-Johan Lingenfelder

Fight Director: Anton Moon

Show synopsis:

When the Ghost of the former King of Denmark informs his son, Hamlet, that he has been poisoned by his brother, the current King Claudius, who now wears the crown after marrying his widow, Gertrude, Hamlet vows to avenge his father's death. To avoid any suspicion, Hamlet feigns madness and hires a theater troupe to act out his father's death to confirm Claudius's guilt. Before Hamlet can act on the new evidence, he is arrested for the death of Polonius, the King's top advisor. Hamlet is banished to England, where Claudius has planned his assassination, but manages to escape and returns to Denmark. Laertes, son of Polonius returns to avenge his father's death, only to discover that his sister, Ophelia, has committed suicide by drowning. Claudius and Laertes' plan to kill Hamlet is foiled, ending in the deaths of Laertes and Gertrude. In the end, Hamlet kills Claudius before he himself dies, begging Horatio to tell him the story

Nominations and/or show awards:

2024  Premiile Teatrale Fleur Du Cap: Cel mai bun decor [nominalizare] & Cele mai bune costume [nominalizare]

Company description:

Abrahamse & Meyer Productions is an internationally recognized independent theater company founded in 2006 by Fred Abrahamse and Marcel Meyer. Based in Cape Town, South Africa, the company often performs in Europe, the United States and South Africa. She is recognized for innovative reinventions of classic texts. Abrahamse & Meyer Productions has an active repertoire of 47 plays and musicals that have been performed in over 90 different seasons on three continents and have created 800 career opportunities for local theater artists, winning 26 of the 107 theater awards at who was nominated. The company also participated in the Craiova International Festival with Richard III (2014), Hamlet (2016) and Macbeth (2018).

Director biography:

FRED ABRAHAMSE is one of South Africa's most acclaimed theater directors. He studied theater at the University of Cape Town. His long career as a director and set designer includes staging numerous award-winning plays such as Hamlet (two productions), Macbeth, Othello, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream (four productions) by Shakespeare; A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie, Night of the Iguana, Sweet Bird of Youth, Earth Kingdom, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here, In a Tokyo Hotel Bar, Stairway to Heaven, The Hotel Plays, One Arm, The Knightly Quest by Tennessee Williams; Decadence, Greek, The Secret Love Life of Ophelia by Steven Berkoff; Stephen Sondheim's Assassins and Sweeney Todd, Mark Ravenhill's Shopping & F*cking and Over There, Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under the Elms, Noël Coward's Private Lives and Present Laughter, as well as the South African premiere of Angels in America by Tony Kushner. Opera performances include Roelof Themming's Sacred Bones and Conrad Asman's Trail by Media, as well as the South African premiere of Pauline Viardot's Cendrillion and a full production of Mozart's Requiem.

Director nominations and/or awards:

Best Director from Fleur du Cap for Contested Bodies, District 6 – The Musical and Beautiful Thing, Best Set Design from Fleur du Cap for Assassins and Kingdom of Earth and Best Lighting Design for Equus; Vita Awards Best Director for Glass Menagerie, Beautiful Thing, Shopping & F*cking; The best costumes from the Naledi Awards in 2019 for Macbeth. Best set and best costumes from Fleur du Cap for The Lady Aoi. Nominated for Best Director for The Glass Menagerie and The Lady Aoi at Fleur du Cap. This year he was awarded the Gold Molteno Award for all his theatrical work from the Cape Khula Foundation.

Show duration: 2 ore 15 minute (fără pauză)